Closed Reading 2-2 Chelsea

[Henrique 9,133]

Ivanovic is our best CB? Right, I wonder why we never won when he is playing in that position.

Cahill+Ivanovic is our worst CB partnership we had in years.

[The Skipper 20,593]

I feel like an Arsenal fan.

[bluephoenix 1,125]

i see no difference between the team under RDM and under RB !!!

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

i see no difference between the team under RDM and under RB !!!

I see. 1000 times better under RDM. we won't lead 2-0 and end up with draw under robbie.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I'm not trying to be combative, but how did bringing on an attacking player when we were already up 2-0 make sense? It's true that Mata needed to come off, but that doesn't mean you replace him with someone who isn't good at defending the wing.

Rafa's tactics confound me. When we're down against Swansea he makes a like-for-like defensive substitution, but when we're up 2-0 against Reading with 3 minutes plus extra time he subs in two ATTACKING players?! The Rafalution is here, ladies and gentlemen. Let's just hope we can make it to the end of the season without any serious damage.

Jesus Christ that was awful.

We already had Bertrand on the other wing. Were we going to play with 6 defenders up 2-0 against Reading in the 85th minute? What other option was there? Marin? Benayoun is much better defensively than Marin. He's better defensively than Mata for that matter. Often, replacing like for like is a good tactic as it gets in fresh legs. Also, they could have scored a third goal to put the game out of reach. The Ba substitution also made sense as it wasted a little time and brought on a player who could maybe run with the ball and hold it up. You look at ManU today, up 2-1 with only one substitution to go, what did SAF do? He brought on Nani for Kagawa. Good teams that are leading might bring on a more defensively-minded midfielder for an attacking one or a defender who is less adventurous, but mostly the subs are about getting fresh legs on. The one quibble I would have is not bringing on Terry but...Terry hasn't looked himself yet and is still finding form after a long-term injury so even that is somewhat understandable.

[Superblue 6,331]

And Essien played in the Classico tonight, albeit at right back. Ok he is not the same player he once was and never will be again, but is someone seriously telling me that he couldn't even do a job here?!

Letting Essien and Meireles leave and freezing out Malouda already looked like leaving us desperately short at some stage and that time has come.

I think many of us are actually underestimating the rebuilding job that is still required to get us competing at the top of the league again.

[The only place to be 11,313]

We already had Bertrand on the other wing. Were we going to play with 6 defenders up 2-0 against Reading in the 85th minute? What other option was there? Marin? Benayoun is much better defensively than Marin. He's better defensively than Mata for that matter. Often, replacing like for like is a good tactic as it gets in fresh legs. Also, they could have scored a third goal to put the game out of reach. The Ba substitution also made sense as it wasted a little time and brought on a player who could maybe run with the ball and hold it up. You look at ManU today, up 2-1 with only one substitution to go, what did SAF do? He brought on Nani for Kagawa. Good teams that are leading might bring on a more defensively-minded midfielder for an attacking one or a defender who is less adventurous, but mostly the subs are mostly about getting fresh legs. The one quibble I would have is not bringing on Terry but...Terry hasn't looked himself yet and is still finding form after a long-term injury so even that is somewhat understandable.

And 5 minutes before that, they bought on Rafael for Anderson and (I'm assuming because I haven't watched the game yet) moved Jones into midfield.

Benitez didn't put out his strongest team to start the game and he didn't act quick enough at the end. He said it himself. He said that they didn't have enough time to bring on Terry which actually sounds like bollocks, and is most likely a case of him trying to cover his enormous, fat arse.

[Bluedoraemon 2]

This truly shows that we are a juan man team! without mata the wheels just fall off the bus! The subs made were completely idiotic I mean what is benayoun coming into the game for instead of marin or anyone really? also it was utterly pointless to have ba playing for 3 minutes I can't believe we can't even defend a 2 goal lead against the powerhouse reading team!

[YouNameIt 1,511]

So why Ba and not Terry?! why torres and not ba?! why bertrand?!WHY GOD WHY!

Because Ba is good even further down the pitch. Because when we clear the ball, Ba has the strenght to take it down, kill time and maybe even keep it.

Why Torres? well I hate the guy but we were up 2-0 so... Saying "we would of scored more goals with Ba on" is stuipid in THIS case. Just look at what oscar missed for example.

And why Bertrand? Again, we were up 2-0 and had a decent defensive team on.

[The Mak 4,459]

The "no time" to bring on Terry comment really gets on my tits. It's actually unbelievable he actually said that.

I mean, yeah sure, don't bring on our captain, an extra defender, for the last few minuties, don't break Reading's momentum, don't waste time, don't give our team leadership...

I'm not just coming down on Benitez here. If I was in the Chelsea locker room now, I'd probably slap everyone of them, bar Lamps and Mata.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

And 5 minutes before that, they bought on Rafael for Anderson and (I'm assuming because I haven't watched the game yet) moved Jones into midfield.

Benitez didn't put out his strongest team to start the game and he didn't act quick enough at the end. He said it himself. He said that they didn't have enough time to bring on Terry which actually sounds like bollocks, and is most likely a case of him trying to cover his enormous, fat arse.

Yes, because SAF has that option. He made three subs and only one of them was defensive which he could do because Jones is very capable of playing midfield. ManU starts with an incredibly attacking formation so going slightly more defensive is easy. What option did Chelsea have to go more defensive? We started with five defenders in the starting XI.. It was already a very defensive lineup. And it's not like Reading were coming on and Rafa didn't react. Reading had zero decent scoring chances until the 87th minute. We were dominating them. We looked much much more likely to score a third than they did to score at all. I want Rafa gone as much as the next guy, but I get annoyed at the knee-jerk blame stuff. We had 67% of possession, we outshot them 15-5. Did Rafa tell Oscar to keep missing the net? Did he say to his defenders "just stand in a bunch together and don't mark anyone?" At some point, the players have to take responsibility. I don't care who is on the pitch. You don't let a 2-0 lead against Reading with 8 minutes to go. Criticizing substitutions is easy because your alternate reality of substitutions will never exist so will forever be theoretically perfect. I am fine with criticizing Benitez for our lack of organization and even our lack of passion, but the players' have to take most of the blame for our poor performances. (the board gets a lot of it too. The inability to ensure that we have any depth has been disastrous.)

[Hutcho 8,443]

It makes no sense to not put on our most experienced defender and leader on the pitch to see the game out. Demba ba for torres makes perfect sense but was far too late and should have been done in the 60th minute or something. No one liked the starting line up but we had the lead so i won't talk about that even though torres over ba made little to no sense, but we got to be solid and protect a 2 goal cushion with 7 mins left. Even if you put someone on just to run the clock down but we still didn't make all 3 subs. Oscar should have put the game to bed though and had numerous chances but its getting annoying how he is the most useless at making subs ever.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Yes, because SAF has that option. He made three subs and only one of them was defensive which he could do because Jones is very capable of playing midfield. ManU starts with an incredibly attacking formation so going slightly more defensive is easy. What option did Chelsea have to go more defensive? We started with five defenders in the starting XI.. It was already a very defensive lineup. And it's not like Reading were coming on and Rafa didn't react. Reading had zero decent scoring chances until the 87th minute. We were dominating them. We looked much much more likely to score a third than they did to score at all. I want Rafa gone as much as the next guy, but I get annoyed at the knee-jerk blame stuff. We had 67% of possession, we outshot them 15-5. Did Rafa tell Oscar to keep missing the net? Did he say to his defenders "just stand in a bunch together and don't mark anyone?" At some point, the players have to take responsibility. I don't care who is on the pitch. You don't let a 2-0 lead against Reading with 8 minutes to go. Criticizing substitutions is easy because your alternate reality of substitutions will never exist so will forever be theoretically perfect. I am fine with criticizing Benitez for our lack of organization and even our lack of passion, but the players' have to take most of the blame for our poor performances. (the board gets a lot of it too. The inability to ensure that we have any depth has been disastrous.)

The thing is you seem to just be talking about personnel changes rather than tactical changes. He could've swapped Oscar or Bertrand for Terry and gone to five at the back. Don't forget, he didn't choose not to bring John Terry on, he ran out of time. This world class tactician couldn't make ONE subsititution in SIX minutes. Oh wait....yes he could. He brought on Ba for Torres, which I don't have a problem with in and of itself, but when we don't bring on a defender when we're defending a lead then it's somewhat irksome.

And this isn't kneejerk stuff. This is the same problem over and over again. Underestimating opposition and not playing his strongest team from the start and then making like-for-like substitutions rather than making changes to his oh so precious formation.

The point that few people seem to have mentioned is that Reading were utterly dire tonight. They were toothless in attack and aimless in defence and yet we still wasted chance after chance against them. Why are we not playing our strongest team in the league when the priority is fourth? Why has Demba Ba played about 15 minutes in the last two games, starting neither one?

Criticising substitutions might be easy. How about criticising a manager's inability to make a substitution when there's six minutes of extra time and you're defending a lead? Because those seem to be the fachts of the evening.

[Ollie 4,400]

That was gutting, the worst of the worst of the worst. I reached boiling point, now i've melted. My stream died in the 83rd minute so someone up there didn't want me to see the collapse i guess but i feel so bad. Arsenal came back from 2-0 down and we threw away a 2-0 lead. If us and Liverpool had won, 4th woulda been sewn up and 100% in the bag.

I'm so gutted i'm lost for words. I'm gonna ruin my bank account again and smash out some big moneys in a FUT Messi / Ronaldo hunt, i'm past giving a shit.

Got IF Podolski and IF Trapp, now time for part 2, fuck this shit.

[Blue Armour 4,164]

Clearly whoever's doing the opposition scouting for our team hasn't done their job right...

How else would our team leave Reading's killer sub Le Fondre unmarked for that last set-piece?

And the fact that around 3 opposition players were left free in our d-box? Poor management there? I think so...and I don't even want to mention the lateness of the substitutions..

[Yeboii 1,844]

I thought it looked pretty good for a short while. That last goal was just unlucky. Bring on a panic buy of Falcao and the next match!

[Rmpr 8,977]

UNBELIEVABLE! THIS SEASON IS BEYOND PATHETIC...

[manpe 10,855]

The moment Benitez brought on Ba on like 92nd minute was the moment I lost all faith in him, what an absolute joke of a manager. Now I actually miss AVB's subs, although often they were baffling too, but at least he wasn't completely braindead.